MS. PERINO: Good afternoon. One note: On the schedule, as you know, the
President, at 3:00 p.m., is going to have remarks on the African American
History Month. Because of the
-- the speech is happening a little bit later in the day, at 3:00 p.m.,
soon we will be able to release the remarks as prepared for delivery, so
you'll have those.

Let me give you a little briefing on what he plans to talk about. He will
celebrate -- he will talk about the month's celebration and the theme of
it, which is celebrating America's cultural diversity. And in today's
speech he will talk about how much progress our nation has made toward
overcoming racial inequality, but as the President of the United States, he
will say that there's a lot more that we could be doing.

He will also highlight one risk that comes with this progress. As past
injustices become more distant memories it can be easy for some to lose
sight of the real suffering that took place, and in particular, he will
focus on one symbol of that suffering, which is the noose. He will note
that there have been a number of recent and disturbing reports about nooses
being displayed. One report says that 70 -- over 70 reports of such
incidents have been recorded since December of 2006. He will stress the
importance of understanding the shameful history of the noose and why it
causes such a visceral reaction. And he will make clear that noose
displays or lynching so-called jokes are offensive, wrong, and have no
place in America today.

Finally, he will honor several African American leaders who are helping
lead the way in fostering tolerance across our country. And I expect those
remarks to be released shortly.

In addition, today in the Senate they are considering legislation to
reauthorize the Protect America Act, which will permanently close the
intelligence gap that we had in our intelligence-gathering system, and
provide the tools that our intelligence community needs in order to help
protect America.

They've made good progress today defeating amendments that could have
weakened the bill, and have added some amendments that improved the bill.
And at this point, the legislation is shaping up to be one that the
President can support, and we look forward to final passage in the Senate
today.

Q Venezuela is threatening to shut off oil supplies to the United States
if Exxon is successful in seizing some Venezuelan assets. Do you take the
-- does the White House take the Venezuelan threat seriously?

MS. PERINO: What you were referring to is a matter of private civil
litigation, which we won't comment on. But, of course, we are mindful that
oil is sold on a world market. And at the same time, while these
discussions are going on, and there is a private lawsuit, the President
continues to push forward to make sure that in America we are further
diversifying our own source of fuels, including producing here at home in
environmentally sensitive ways, and also seeking alternatives.

Q But it's -- I know it's a matter of a private lawsuit, but the
President of Venezuela and the country's oil minister both are raising
these threats to cut off oil supplies to the United States. What's your
response?

MS. PERINO: It's possible that when there is a litigation that's ongoing,
different parties will say anything to try to win over on an argument, and
it's not something that the federal government is going to get involved in.

Q Did you find out anything more about the Israeli apartments, the U.S.
role in that?

MS. PERINO: It's a little bit unclear as to what the announcement actually
was, so we continue to look into that. Let me go back to one thing, which
is that the President has said that he believes that President Abbas and
Prime Minister Olmert are two leaders who are committed to working on a
final status agreement by the end of the year. At the same time, the
President noted when he was on his trip -- well, back at the Annapolis
Conference in November of 2007, and then on his trip in the Middle East in
January, just last month, that there are going to be issues that are going
to be very difficult for both sides to work through, and that what's most
important is that the leaders remember that they need to continue to look
at the big picture, and let their negotiators deal with the specifics of
the issues.

We know that their two negotiators, their foreign ministers, recently met.
We understand that they had a good meeting. And hopefully they will be
able to continue to meet. And we're going to continue to monitor and press
them and push them to make sure that they can seize the opportunity that's
in front of them.

Q Are you afraid to take a stand on this issue? I mean, they are taking
land, Palestinian land, that doesn't belong to them.

MS. PERINO: I think that's -- what I said, Helen, is that we understand
that this is an issue that's going to have to be worked out between the
two. It is not clear if these were new
-- this was a new announcement, or if it was a reiteration of an old
position. So while we'll look into that, we will say that on these issues
of settlements and borders, refugees, all of these issues are going to be
very difficult, not to mention the issues of security that Israel is
concerned about.

Q Well, when you keep taking other people's land, and you keep worrying
about your security -- talk about the big picture. Think of the
Palestinians losing all their homes and land.

MS. PERINO: I think the President thinks of both the Israelis and the
Palestinians, and especially -- he is a President, and the first President
who has called for the Palestinians to have a state of their own, so that
they could live in peace and security.

Q Let's see -- where is it?

MS. PERINO: Well, part of what we have to get through this year is a
discussion between the Israelis and the Palestinians for a final status
agreement, and that's what we're working towards.

Q General Cartwright this morning said on Capitol Hill that he's
concerned about indications of this return to a Cold War mind-set regarding
the Russian overflight of the aircraft carrier. Is that a sentiment the
President shares, as well?

MS. PERINO: I haven't spoken to the President about it. I know that these
issues happen from time to time, so I'll refer you to DOD for anything more
on it.

Q Dana, in the President's remarks to CPAC last week, he said that one
of the timeless truths that the administration believes in is personal
responsibility. So is the President at all concerned that any of these
administration programs to help homeowners struggling with the mortgage
crisis, that they do the opposite, they actually absolve them of
responsibility for decisions they made, some of them risky decisions that
-- and that while they may help homeowners in the short-term, they don't
really do anything in the long-term to encourage more prudent responsible
behavior?

MS. PERINO: A couple things. First of all, on the housing situation, it
was last August that we started moving forward on several housing
initiatives, both for short-term, mid-term and long-term reforms.

In the short-term, one of the things that we did is work with the Secretary
of Treasury and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to set up a
private sector organization that could help people who were at risk of
losing their home. And just today, Secretaries Paulson and Jackson
announced that they're going to take that even further and work with people
who are already behind in their mortgage payments.

We have to remember that these are contracts that were freely entered into
-- except for a very small number of cases where there might have been
fraud that was involved, and those cases could be prosecuted under the law.
But it's not in anyone's interests for the economy to collapse under the
strain of a housing market that's in a downturn. And so what we've tried
to do is figure out a way to help people, especially those who were -- who
took subprime loans in order to keep their homes and keep the neighborhoods
vibrant, and to work within both the private sector and also Congress to
help change the way that we deal with these loans. And that's one of the
reasons that the President has asked for Congress to take up modernization
of the Federal Housing Administration.

There's lots of different things that we can do to try to help people stay
in their homes and to make better choices. I would also remind you that
the President just announced a Financial Literacy Council to help people
take more responsibility for their own savings and their own
decision-making, to live within their means and to make sure that they're
making prudent decisions on behalf of their families. And so there's a lot
of different things we can do on different fronts.

Q So there's no concern that any of these programs the administration
has initiated are in any way encouraging people to go ahead and make the
same mistakes twice?

MS. PERINO: No, I think -- no, I don't think there's concern, and I also
think that consumers out there, having been educated about what can happen
in a situation where you might have taken a subprime loan, or you could get
out too far over your skis and not be able to afford what you've committed
to, even -- and consumers are paying attention. And so I think that
everybody -- out of this, one of the good things that will happen is
everyone will be more educated and hopefully make better decisions.

Goyal.

Q Just a quick question, Dana. As far as terrorism -- violent terrorism
is concerned, a lot of reports are coming out in the press -- (inaudible)
-- that after seven years of 9/11, al Qaeda in Pakistan have camps, are
still training terrorists, but they are using new techniques, training the
people from different countries, including from the U.S., and sending them
back to their home country to attack. Is President aware of this, has been
briefed now on this new technique they are using?

MS. PERINO: Goyal, I think we saw that technique used on September 11th,
when 3,000 of our citizens were killed. So we're very much aware of it and
we're working to prevent any further terrorist attack on our country and
then working internationally to prevent it in other countries, as well.

Olivier.

Q Two for you. The first one you're probably going to refer me to DOD,
but does the United States have any role to play in the search for the
ambassador and the two nuclear technicians who have gone missing, presumed
abducted, on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan?

MS. PERINO: No. We are aware of the situation, but I would refer you to
the Department of Defense for that.

Q And then, a leading communist politician in India says that his party
is going to hold up the U.S.-India nuclear agreement until there's a new
President here. Any concern about that? Are you -- the ambassador there
says this is pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime shot. Do you agree with
that? Is this --

MS. PERINO: Well, I hadn't seen those remarks. What I can say about that
initiative -- which is the civil nuclear arrangement between us and India
-- is that it's something that we would like very much for our country to
be able to enter into agreement with India because we believe that nuclear
power is a good thing for the environment, and it's a good thing for
powering both electricity for homes and for businesses. And a country like
India needs to think about how it's going to diversify its resources, not
only for how -- make sure that the lights turn on when the kids are at home
trying to do their homework, but also because they are facing environmental
problems, especially in regards to coal that is burned -- for the problems
that that causes for people's respiratory health, as well as problems in
water.

So this agreement is one that we have done very carefully, through the
State Department. We're trying to work with India. We would hope that
they would see the benefits in it, and we continue to work with them to try
to make it happen.

Q Can I follow?

MS. PERINO: Yes.

Q Do you think President has been in touch with the Prime Minister of
India, with Manmohan Singh? Because there are also some deals that are
going on with Russia and China and other countries, France --

MS. PERINO: I don't think they've been in touch recently, but obviously at
the State Department they're in touch with them quite regularly.

Q Dana, has the President doing any event in order to push for the
approval of Merida initiative -- request of Capitol Hill in order to have
approved before the meeting with the President of Mexico and the Prime
Minister of Canada next April?

MS. PERINO: Well, I don't know any events that we have on the schedule,
but that is something that we are going to continue to work with Congress
on. We think it's very important for the national security of our own
country, but, as well, for the security and for peace for that border
region, especially down on the border with Mexico. So we'll continue to
work on it. And of course, the President will be talking to President
Calderon and President Harper -- I'm sorry, Prime Minister Harper, about
that in April when he's in New Orleans for the meeting.

Q This week up on Congress, many members of the Subcommittee on Western
Hemisphere Affairs are saying that the White House has any -- hasn't
presented any concern with regard to the human rights abuses in Mexico, in
this new fight of narcotics by President Calderon, using the Mexican
military to combat drug narco-traffickers. Is this true, the White House
hasn't expressed any concern about it, human rights situation in Mexico?

MS. PERINO: I don't think that that's accurate. Of course, it's something
that we're concerned about and continue to work with Mexico on. But we
also appreciate how aggressively President Calderon has worked to fight
counter-narcotics -- fight the narcotics situation down there, and
especially the violence that is preventing people from being able to have a
good life and a good job.

So we'll continue to work with them. We'll try to get this initiative
passed through Congress as rapidly as possible.

Q Dana, one more on the stimulus plan the President is going to be
signing tomorrow. What about the economists who say, great election year
move, but in terms of stimulating the economy, by the time those checks
arrive, even if the IRS works flat out, the earliest they arrive is May,
they're going to trickle out through July -- the stimulus will be too
little and too late?

MS. PERINO: Well, one thing I have learned as I've gotten more up to speed
over the last several months on the economy, is that you can find an
economist that can say just about anything about the economy. But I think,
across-the-board, if you look from a wide variety of perspectives, that the
general sense is that this move by the Congress, bipartisan move, will
actually have a beneficial effect on the economy. I saw that from the
Congressional Budget Office Director today, as well, which obviously he is
not always in agreement with the administration.

But remember, it's not just the checks that are going to end up in
consumers -- many consumers' hands, soon, after the Treasury Department is
able to get that underway, but also small businesses know that they have a
certainty now, after tomorrow's signing, that they can take advantage of
the tax incentives that are part of the stimulus package for them, as well.
That's another part of the deal that doesn't get as much attention as the
consumer aspects of it, but the small businesses are the ones who are
really helping create the jobs, which is part of what the stimulus package
is supposed to do. So hopefully that will help us head off any potential
recession.

Q And on the economy, any thoughts, any comments on GM's announced $39
billion record loss and their plans to either buy out or potentially lay
off some 74,000 workers? And any kind of ripple effect that could have on
this rough patch the economy is in?

MS. PERINO: The report from GM reflects what we've known for a long time,
which is that the automotive industry in the United States is having some
difficulties, and they are trying to work through those. They're trying to
restructure. They have a changing marketplace; buyers have different
tastes, and there are issues regarding how high their cost of business is.
So they're trying to restructure. And I think that over the long-term that
the President believes strongly, the long-term health of the U.S.
automotive industry is strong.

But they have some issues that they're going to have to work through, and
we obviously keep in mind all the people today who were affected by that,
because that news is hard to take for a family. There are worker
retraining programs that are very important and it's also critical that we
make sure that those programs are effective, not just out there for looks,
that they actually have an impact on how somebody can change their careers
or change their lifestyle, to make sure that they are competitive in the
21st century.

Q To that end, if I could, in the past the President has met with the
Big 3 automakers' CEOs. Is there any further plans for something like
that, or any role for the administration to play as they work through these
tough times?

MS. PERINO: I know that the administration keeps in close contact with
representatives from those companies. I don't know of anything on the
schedule right now, though.

But another thing to keep in mind is one of the most important things that
the President of the United States can do is ensure that we have good
pro-growth policies going forward, which is another reason he is signing
the stimulus package tomorrow, to make sure that we can ensure against any
potential downturn and keep the overall health of the economy good so we
can make sure consumers are out there purchasing and that our businesses
are remaining competitive.

Helen.

Q What are the things that you like in the FISA bill, compromises? I
haven't seen them on the wire. Do they have immunity for telephone
companies? Did that pass?

MS. PERINO: Yes, that was a provision that was upheld in the Senate.
There was also an amendment call -- that Senator Dodd sponsored, which
would add the issue of weapons of mass destruction in the --

MS. PERINO: That's not what this is about, Helen. Anyone in America who
would require a wiretap that -- you have to go through the process of
getting a warrant. This was about dealing through the FISA court to make
sure that our intelligence gaps remain closed when dealing with phone calls
overseas.

Q But were the telephone companies told that it was legal to wiretap six
months before 9/11?

MS. PERINO: The telephone companies that were alleged to have helped their
country after 9/11 did so because they are patriotic and they certainly
helped us and they helped us save lives.